Seeking to eliminate "turbulence," "confusion" and "inefficiency," flatulent first-year freshman St. Augustine City Commissioner JOHN OTHA VALDES wants to eliminate voters' rights to elect their own mayor, also suggesting non-resident business and property owners be given the right to vote. Valdes, 70, a third-generation Florida construction contractor, was fined a mere $224 by the Code Enforcement Board in 2016 after demolishing a Washington Street home after being denied a permit, after telling the building inspector, "I could make it fall down."
After 1550 days of obstructing beloved reform Mayor Nancy Shaver, the bad-ole-boys want "their " town back. Valdes moved to St. Augustine in 1992 after selling his Saudi Arabian construction firm to his Saudi and British partners. Mayor Tracy Wilson Upchurch, "elected" by Commissioners March 4 (after Mayor Shaver resigned February 28 after suffering a stroke), without meaningful public comment, refused to allow public comment in response to Valdes' proposals, refusing to call on two citizens who raised their hands.
Conservative Upchurch, former mayor, corporate lawyer scion and director and current Flager College history and law professor, was the UF law school roommate of disgraced ex-Mayor Joseph Lester Boles, Jr., whom Shaver defeated in 2014. Mayor Shaver was re-elected in 2016 and 2018 by landslides.
Heroic Mayor Nancy Shaver did such a good job holding City Hall denizen-doormats for contractors and developers accountable that she was re-elected twice in landslides. Now the Establishment would like to alter or abolish the job of Mayor.
"Hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Mayor Tracy Upchurch, a lawyer, refused to call on two citizens who raised their hands and wanted to respond. How gauche and louche. Violated First Amendment and F.S. 286. Uncouth, unkind, discourteous. Owners and controllers want "their" City back and loathed and undermined beloved reform Mayor Nancy Shaver for 1550 days, ending in her stroke and now want to abolish the job. Nasty other-directed puppets need to go.
NO RESPONSE to messages that I left for TRACY WILSON UPCHURCH and JOHN OTHA VALDES.
As William F. Buckley, Jr. once said, "Why does baloney reject the grinder?"
St. Augustine commissioner supports change to mayor’s role.
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 2:01 AM
April 4, 2019
St. Augustine Record
St. Augustine Commissioner John Valdes said it’s time for the city to talk about changing the role of mayor, including the possibility of eliminating the title.
Valdes made the comment Wednesday as commissioners met to kick off a comprehensive review of the city charter.
Having an elected mayor is confusing for some residents, especially those who come from places where mayors wield more power, Valdes said. He also said he views the title as a way to create a “power base that really doesn’t exist.”
The mayor controls Commission meetings and is the ceremonial face of the city, but the mayor has the same voting power as others on the Commission. The city manager handles the city’s daily operations and is responsible for implementing policies set by the Commission.
“You have a mayor’s seat that really amounts to running meetings and, (to) use the old adage, kissing babies. ... At the end of the day, sometimes having a mayor that puts on the cloak of a big-city mayor causes turbulence that wouldn’t necessarily be there,” Valdes said.
Valdes said he would prefer that the Commission have a chairperson and that the title rotate based on a “non-political” criteria, such as time in office.
The city charter sets the foundation for how the city operates, including rules for elections, the powers of the city, the governmental structure and powers and duties of city officials.
The city charter changed in 2006 to set the current manner of handling the mayor’s seat, which is a two-year term and an elected position. Other members of the Commission serve four-year terms.
If commissioners were to move forward with changing the mayor’s seat, the decision would go to city residents for a vote.
Other changes to the charter also require a referendum, including any change to form of government and terms of elected offices, City Clerk Darlene Galambos said. The city has until June 2020 to place items in a referendum, she said.
Some changes can be done by ordinance, Galambos said.
The city had a charter review in the ’80s, she said. There’s no city requirement for the charter to be reviewed.
Commissioners had mixed opinions about changing the role of mayor.
Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman said she would like commissioners to choose the mayor every year.
Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline said she had mixed opinions.
“Honestly, what I think concerns me the most about that suggestion is that (it) weights the power to the city manager and staff,” Sikes-Kline said. “I think it kind of takes away from the powers of the Commission, essentially.”
Valdes disagreed, saying there would still be five elected commissioners.
Mayor Tracy Upchurch said the change in charter of how the mayor’s seat is handled came after a previous Commission removed the mayor, which offended residents.
He said he would hate to see the title of mayor go away, and there’s value to having a mayor in a place like St. Augustine.
“My sense is that most people like the idea of electing the mayor,” he said.
Mayor Nancy Shaver, who resigned in February because of a stroke, had been accused of overstepping her authority.
Former Vice Mayor Todd Neville called out Shaver after she sent a letter, without Commission consent, asking the U.S. Army Corps to study the feasibility of closing the St. Augustine Inlet to help address flooding issues. She withdrew the request after getting pushback from commissioners.
Lopez said she plans to bring back research on possible policy changes and other points of the charter review as early as May.
Commissioner Roxanne Horvath was not at the meeting because of an illness, Upchurch said.
Other topics to be considered:
• Commissioners supported further discussing changing the residency requirements for City Commission candidates. Commissioners just have to be city residents to qualify.
Possibilities include requiring candidates to be residents for at least a year or loosening residency requirements so that someone could move to the city after being elected.
Valdes asked for information about whether the city can give voting power to people who own property in the city but don’t live in the city.
• Commissioners supported changing the time frame required to fill a vacancy on the Commission.
When Shaver resigned, commissioners had 10 days to fill the post or the decision would have gone to the governor. The city did not name candidates until the meeting where commissioners chose Upchurch as Shaver’s replacement.
Commissioners supported changing the deadline to 30 days, which will allow more time to provide information to the public.
• Lopez provided a document to the Commission before the meeting and reviewed it page-by-page on Wednesday. The document suggested many changes to the charter, including deleting redundant or obsolete rules or those preempted by state law, adding language that reflects current practices and adding female pronouns to the charter. The current charter, because of when it was written, uses male pronouns, Lopez said.
Holy cow - it is obvious that Mr. Valdes skipped Civics class and that he has absolutely no knowledge of democracy. The idea of letting Non-Resident property owners vote is the dumbest thing I have heard - it isn't just a concern about non resident business owners getting a right to vote ( as Ed properly notes could be the result) but what to do about a guy who lives in Germany but owns an investment property in St Augustine...or all the non resident snow birds who own a house here.
ReplyDeleteExample of a funny conversation: Hey John..can you do me a favor? I own rental property in the UK and I own stock in some UK based corporations - most certainly I have a vested interest in the UK - can you give them a ring over there and get me the right to vote for their Prime Minister?